The new CityCenter, billed as an "unprecedented urban metropolis" in Las Vegas, is considered one of the world's largest sustainable developments.
The 18-million-square-foot urban resort is slated to receive a combination of gold and silver LEED ratings from the U.S. Green Building Council. Among the structures included in the development are hotels, residences, restaurants, and retail and public spaces.
Among the sustainable features are the following:
- First energy-generation on The Strip through its 8.5-megawatt natural gas co-generation plant, providing electricity on site, displacing carbon-dioxide emissions, and using "waste heat" to provide domestic hot water.
- Water conservation technology and programs that are expected to save 30-43 percent of water within the buildings and 60 percent in outdoor landscaping.
- Development of slot machine bases that serve as floor air-conditioning units, efficiently cooling guests from the ground up rather than wasting energy on empty space by cooling from the ceiling.
- Energy-efficiency initiatives that provide a savings equivalent to powering 8,800 households each year.
- Creation of a large-scale recycling operation that enables the recycling or reuse of more than 260,000 tons of construction waste, including 97 percent of the imploded Boardwalk Hotel.
